Wednesday, 22 September 2010

I can now confidently predict that India will scoop the medal pool in the forthcoming Commonwealth games being staged in Delhi this October.

There is a very simple reason for this calculation; nobody else will be there to compete.

The airwaves in New Zealand have been dominated by reports of the disastrous state of the athlete's village with " bare wires sticking out of the walls".

The BBC reports "Delegates who visited the tower blocks where athletes will live during the games had described them as filthy, with rubble lying in doorways, dogs inside the buildings, toilets not working and excrement "in places it shouldn't be".

The conditions have been described as squalid by visiting officials. In response defensive Indian officials have tried to shift the blame by intimating that westerners have 'different standards' than those in India.

There have been close ups on television of the dengue carrying mosquitoes sporting themselves in puddles and drains adjacent to this accommodation.

The much touted security has been proven to be totally ineffective as was proven by an Australian journalist who carried the compnents of a bomb in a large suitcase into a main venue, unchallenged.

All of this adds up to a very sorry picture of the preparedness of the country to host the games.

The latest news today is of the collapse of a footbridge near the main stadium which has injured 23 workers.

The Singapore contingent remain committed to the Games according to the Straits Times yesterday. They hope to better their previous record haul of 18 medals.

Why such a large event was ever granted to a country with a known record of inefficiencies and corrupt practices is beyond me. Now of course it is too late to find a satisfactory alternative venue.

Within a decade most of these sites will be overgrown with weeds and vines which is perhaps why they adopted the brand of "The Green Games" ?